FORT PORTAL, Uganda — A former television news anchor was crowned Tuesday as the 13th king of Uganda’s Tooro Kingdom, closing a succession fight that followed the death of the onetime “boy king” and thrust one of Africa’s oldest traditional monarchies into a dispute over legitimacy.
Edward Rukidi Kijanangoma, 56, a former news anchor and editor with the state broadcaster Uganda Broadcasting Corporation, took the royal name Edward Rukidi Nyabongo I at a coronation ceremony in Fort Portal, according to the Associated Press and Reuters.
The rites included the ritual slaughter of a bull, the sprinkling of a hen’s blood, a midnight walk to Karuziika Palace between midnight and 3 a.m., and a mock battle for the crown, Reuters reported.
Kijanangoma succeeds King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV, who ascended the throne as an infant, earned the nickname “boy king,” and died of cancer at 34 in August. His funeral on September 12 drew tens of thousands of mourners.
A 21-member committee of the royal Babiito clan selected Kijanangoma, a cousin of the late king. A Reuters source said Uganda’s central government pushed the decision through — a claim that could not be independently confirmed.
Queen mother Best Kemigisa disputes the choice, saying King Oyo’s written will named a young son as heir, leaving the succession’s legitimacy contested.
Uganda’s traditional kingdoms were banned in the 1960s after independence and restored in 1993. The monarchs hold no formal authority and are barred from partisan politics, but they wield immense cultural influence across the country.